Faculty

Dr. Bea Ade-Oshifogun, joined the School of Nursing, Andrews University in November 2015. Dr. Ade-Oshifogun obtained a Ph.D. in Nursing from the University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois. She completed a Master’s degree in Nursing Education and Critical Care from Governors State University, Illinois, an MS in Nutrition from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and a BSN from the University of Ife, Nigeria.  She has 38 years of clinical experience in all aspects of bedside nursing working in Africa, Europe, and the United States. She is also a trained midwife.

Dr. Ade-Oshifogun has held management positions in home health, as well as acute and long-term healthcare organizations. Her teaching experience has spanned three continents. She has also worked as a Joint Commission surveyor and presently conducts accreditation site visits for ACEN. She has authored four manuscripts and has presented her research findings including her doctoral dissertation titled ‘Functional performance in obese elderly people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease’ at several international scientific conferences.

Sharon F. Beasley, Ph.D., RN, CNE, NEA-BC^® is an Adjunct Professor of Nursing at the University of District of Columbia. Dr. Beasley has been a registered nurse for 25 years and has served in various leadership roles (e.g., charge nurse, case manager, academic nurse educator, and director of academic nursing programs). She has leadership experience in the practice setting, academic setting, and programmatic accreditation. She brings programmatic accreditation expertise from the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), where she served as a Director for seven years. As a Director for the ACEN, Dr. Beasley was responsible for mentoring/assisting programs with programmatic accreditation including outcomes assessment and implementing strategic methods to evaluate program effectiveness. Recently, she Co-Chaired the ACEN 2023 Standards and Criteria Review. Dr. Beasley’s focus has been accreditation, program development, leadership, outcomes assessment, and curriculum revision as reflected in recent publications and presentations (2014-2022). In addition, Dr. Beasley has presented nationally on the topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion within the context of nursing education.

Wyetta Bontempo, Ph.D. is the founder and Principal Consultant for Mountain Measurement, Inc. Wyetta’s areas of expertise include psychometrics, Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT), licensure & certification, accreditation, reporting, and data visualization. She is a former commissioner for the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) and was instrumental in the development of the 2016 NCCA Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs. Prior to forming Mountain Measurement, Dr. Bontempo was the psychometrician for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (where she was responsible for the psychometric soundness and legal defensibility of the NCLEX^® Examinations), Microsoft, and Promissor (now Pearson VUE). Wyetta received her doctorate from the Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistical Analysis program at the University of Chicago and her Master’s in Educational Statistics from the Research and Evaluation program at the Ohio State University.

For a complete Bio including a list of publications and presentations, see Wyetta Bontempo, Ph.D. - Bio

Dr. Renwanz Boyle is the Associate Dean and Professor in the Department of Nursing at the Dominican University of California. She is also a Distinguished Practice Fellow in the National Academies of Practice and an emerita associate professor in the San Francisco State University School of Nursing where she developed and then served as the Director of the Family Nurse Practitioner Program for many years. Currently, Dr. Boyle is the President of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society as well as the secretary of the International Council of Nurses Nurse Practitioner/Advanced Practice Nursing Network and serves on several professional boards and committees.

Dr. Boyle’s research and professional interests are reflected in the co-authorship of 4 books and in several research and scholarly publications and presentations at regional, national, and international conferences. Dr. Boyle’s work has been focused on nursing education, nursing curriculum development, health-related issues in aging, evidence-based practice, problem-based practice, assisted living,  palliative care, and interprofessional practice. Dr. Boyle currently serves as a manuscript reviewer for interprofessional, geriatric, and evidence-based nursing journals and has a long history of work in adult and geriatric primary care settings. 

Dr. Boyle received her Ph.D. in nursing science from the University of California, her MS in nursing from Boston University, her BSN from the University of Rhode Island, and her nurse practitioner certification from Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. 

Margaret Bultas, Ph.D., RN, CNE, CNL, CPNP-PC is an Associate Professor of Nursing at Saint Louis University Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing.  She has over 15 years of experience as a nurse educator which includes experience in program administration as well as an adjunct surveyor for her state Board of Nursing.  Dr. Bultas has experience in course and curriculum development, review, and evaluation and is the recipient of several teaching awards.  Her area of research includes designing, implementing, and disseminating studies related to the assessment and evaluation of educational interventions used in the classroom and simulation laboratory.  She is a strong advocate of improving the educational experiences for nursing students.  Dr. Bultas’s clinical expertise is as a pediatric nurse and her clinical research focuses on improving the health care experiences of children with developmental disabilities and their families. 

Rosanne Colosimo, Ph.D., MSN, RN is a nurse educator and administrator with over 40 years of nursing experience. She is currently an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Dr. Colosimo’s academic and clinical career has focused on Psychiatric Nursing and has included appointments as a faculty member at the Ohio State University and the College of Southern Nevada as well as the Director of Nursing and Clinical Services at Montevista Hospital. As an Education Consultant for the Nevada State Board of Nursing, Rosanne was involved with program development, regulation, evaluation, and improvement for a wide variety of nursing education programs including nurse aide and APRN programs. Dr. Colosimo was recognized by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing for her work on developing a Fellowship for Regulatory Excellence and her contributions as a member of the NCLEX^® Examination Committee. She has been the Editor of the Nevada Nursing News for the past 7 years and received the Northern Nevada Nurse Educator award in 2012.

Cathy Dearman, Ph.D., RN is a nurse educator, researcher, evaluator, and administrator with over 35 years of experience in nursing and higher education. She is the Associate Dean of Research and Development at the University of South Alabama where she has served as the Chair for Maternal Child Nursing for many years. Dr. Dearman was a founding member and on-site evaluation team member for the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) and served as the president of the Alabama Board of Nursing in 2014. Cathy served as an on-site evaluation team member for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing’s NCLEX^® Examination Committee. Dr. Dearman co-authored Project Planning and Management: A Guide for CNLs, DNPs, and Nurse Executives, and Project Planning and Management: A Guide for Nurses and Interprofessional Teams. Cathy has been a longstanding member of the College Research Council, the Alabama Higher Education Partnership, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and the Alabama Association of University Professors.

Karen H. Frith, Ph.D., RN, NEA-BC, is a Professor of Nursing at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She has been a nurse educator since 1992 and has an active program of research in the use of technology to improve health and educational outcomes. She is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and the National League for Nursing. She serves as the reviewer (of grants and articles) for Sigma Theta Tau; Health Resources and Services Administration, Journal of Nursing Administration, Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, Computers, Informatics, Nursing, Journal of Health & Medical Informatics, and Nurse Educator, among others. She has authored more than 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals, authored two books: Distance Education in Nursing, Third Edition, and Applied Clinical Informatics for Nurses. She has contributed chapters to four other books and presents nationally. Her previous clinical position experience is in cardiovascular surgical intensive care, coronary intensive care, and orthopedics. She is board certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center as Nurse Executive, Advanced (NEA-BC) and is a Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) by the National League for Nursing.

Kathy Gaberson, Ph.D., RN, CNOR, CNE, ANEFhas over 35 years of experience in nursing education as a faculty member and administrator in diploma, associate degree, baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral programs. Her areas of teaching expertise are evaluation and testing, clinical teaching, and measurement issues in research. As the owner and principal nursing education consultant for OWK Consulting, she consults on program evaluation, nursing program accreditation, research instrument development, and writing for publication. She is the author or co-author of 11 nursing education books and numerous articles and book chapters. She presents continuing education and faculty development programs on nursing education topics, including test construction and clinical teaching and evaluation. She is certified in perioperative nursing and nursing education and is an inaugural Fellow of the Academy of Nursing Education. She has received several teaching awards as well as the Association for periOperative Nurses Award for Excellence, the Association’s highest honor. She currently is the Associate Editor for Research for the AORN Journal and serves on the Journal’s Editorial Board.

Shawn Higgins, Ph.D., RN, CHC currently serves as the Dean of Academic Affairs at Chamberlain University in Las Vegas, NV. She has 22 years of nursing experience and education, serving in roles that include faculty, simulation/nursing skills lab manager, dean of nursing, and certified health coach. Shawna has served as a sub-committee member of the Arizona State Board of Nursing where she contributed to the writing of the Advisory Opinion on academic testing practices. Shawna has a strong background in curriculum writing, revision, and mapping; she has experience in regulatory and accreditation matters, program start-up, evaluation and improvement, and mentorship.

Lora K. Hromadik, Ph.D., RN is a professor in the Department of Nursing and Allied Health Professions of Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). Lora has over 40 years of nursing experience across various healthcare disciplines and 28 years of experience as a nurse educator teaching at the undergraduate, master’s and PhD levels. One of Lora’s strengths lies in facilitating PhD candidates in the development of rigorous nursing education research with a focus on intervention studies and mixed methods research. Lora’s earned her master’s and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing where she focused her research on patient safety. She has continued a trajectory of research in safety with a more recent shift to the education of safe nurses and the transition of safety minded students to practice. Lora has served on the IUP Department of Nursing’s outcomes assessment committee since 2011 and has chaired this committee for the past eight years. During her tenure as chairperson of the outcomes assessment committee, she has developed multiple assessment research studies to improve the quality of program assessment data used in program evaluation and subsequent program improvement initiatives. Additionally, to enhance her program assessment skills, Lora worked alongside Stephanie Evergreen completing the Evergreen Data Visualization Academy followed by the Evergreen Data Visualization Certification Program, a yearlong intensive, where she developed enhanced skills in data visualization for presentation and dissemination.

Rose McCloskey, Ph.D. is a nursing Professor in the Department of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) Canada.  Rose also serves as Deputy Convener in the university’s Joanna Briggs Institute Centre of Excellence for Systematic Reviews which develops and delivers unique evidence-based information, software, education, and training designed to improve healthcare practice and health outcomes. Additionally, Rose has certification in gerontological nursing from the Canadian Nurses Association.

Ainslie T. Nibert, Ph.D., RN, FAAN is a nationally recognized expert in nursing curriculum, testing, and measurement. She currently serves as the Department Chair for Graduate Studies and is a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch, School of Nursing, and as a corporate consultant to nursing academic and clinical practice organizations. She previously served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for Review and Testing/HESI, at Elsevier, Inc.  Dr. Nibert is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.  She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, where she is a Virginia Henderson Fellow and was a Faculty Advisor for the Nurse Faculty Leadership Academy.

Angela Opsahl, DNP, RN, CPHQ is an associate professor and interim associate dean of nursing at Indiana University, Bloomington. Her teaching experience includes undergraduate and graduate education in applied healthcare ethics, advance practice roles, complex processes (critical care), capstone, leadership, nursing synthesis, nursing surgical intensive, and undergraduate honors research. Angela is currently the President of Alpha Chapter for the Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honors Society and on the Board of Directors for the Indiana Association for Healthcare Quality. In 2021, Dr. Opsahl was appointed to the National League for Nursing Commission as a Nursing Education Accreditation (CNEA) as an On-Site Program Evaluator, supporting continuous quality improvement and promoting excellence in national and international schools of nursing education. She recently completed the 2024 Indiana University Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Leadership Certification Program. As a current honors faculty mentor for the IU School of Nursing Honors Program at Bloomington, she enjoys mentoring students at all levels of education and finds it to be one of the most rewarding aspects of teaching. She most recently served as the director for the RN to BSN Statewide Degree Completion Option.
Angela has over 33 years of nursing experience. In her prior professional role, she was the CIR Quality Data Manager for Franciscan St. Francis Health at three area hospitals of the Central Indiana Region comprised of Carmel, Indianapolis, and Mooresville campuses. This position allowed her to impact patient care through data collection/submission and analysis of patient outcomes and by communicating trends to staff, physicians, and administrators to improve the overall patient experience and support positive patient outcomes.

Judy Pelletier, MSN, RN, CNE is a nurse educator and administrator with over 25 years of nursing and higher education experience. She is currently the Director of the Division of Nurse Education at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School. Judy is a National League for Nursing (NLN) Certified Nurse Educator recognized in the advanced specialty role of an academic nurse educator. As the Nursing Education Coordinator for the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing, Judy provided consultation to institutions seeking to establish nursing education programs and evaluated nurse licensure applicant compliance. Judy served on the National Council Licensure Exam Committee and the NCLEX^® Item Review Subcommittee for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). She is a member of the PN Educators Council of the Massachusetts/Rhode Island League for Nursing and a member of the Massachusetts Action Coalition Nurse of the Future Core Competencies© committee. Judy has also been a longstanding member of the National League for Nursing, the American Nurses Association, and has been active with The Nursing and Allied Health Initiative of the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.

Tracey C. Stephen, Ph.D., MN, RN, CCSNE is the Executive Director of the Nursing Simulation Centre in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Tracey has over 30 years of experience in nursing education as a faculty member and leader in simulated learning experiences for undergraduate, advanced practice, and graduate education. Tracey has a PhD in Educational Measurement, Evaluation, and Cognition from the University of Alberta, Canada and has expertise in testing, measurement, automated essay scoring, and evaluation in nursing education. Other areas of Tracey’s research include effectiveness and attitudes toward simulated learning experiences (all modalities) in nursing education and use of automated scoring techniques in testing. Tracey is the lead editor of several textbooks for health assessment in nursing practice and is a co editor for two nursing fundamentals in Canadian nursing practice textbooks.

Anne Wendt, RN, MSN, Ph.D., CAE, PMP is currently the CEO of Wendt Consulting LLC which provides education, research, and psychometric services. Anne is an Executive Board Member for ISCOME who is committed to advancing communication science for healthcare professionals to enhance patient safety. She recently co-authored a textbook focused on evidence-based core communication competencies using case studies entitled, New Horizons in Patient Safety: Safe Communication that Dr. Patricia Benner has endorsed as presenting a new paradigm for the nursing profession. During her almost 20 years at The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Anne served as NCLEX Content Manager, Associate Director of Testing, and Director of Testing where she introduced and developed the alternate item types, conducted research on next generation items to address higher levels of cognitive processing, developed the NCLEX-RN^® and NCLEX-PN^® Detailed Test Plans and led research on other NCLEX initiatives. She developed workshops on curriculum mapping and understanding the NCLEX-RN^® and NCLEX-PN^® Examinations. Prior to achieving her Ph.D. in Psychometrics (Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistical Analysis), Anne was an Associate Professor at a BSN nursing program and an adjunct faculty member for a community college nursing and nursing assistant program. Anne worked as a home health and hospital nurse while achieving her Master’s degree in Nursing and has enjoyed her experience working with all levels of healthcare workers.

Dr. Kathleen Williamson is the Associate Dean and Professor of Nursing, at Indiana University, Fort Wayne. She provides leadership and oversight to direct, promote and facilitate a culture that promotes student and faculty engagement and encourages collaborations with other health professionals breaking down educational silos. She continues to bring new knowledge about Evidence-Based Practice (EBP), innovative ways to use technology, and research to faculty, students, and clinicians nationally and internationally.  She remains active in scholarly activities and continues to publish and present her work. As an educator and researcher, she is a role model, a mentor, a consultant & a lecturer.

She sets high standards of teaching excellence and is committed to fostering collaboration to advancing education. She is enthusiastic, creative, energetic, and passionate about teaching and researching topics such as technology in nursing education and the integration of EBP in academic and clinical settings. Dr. Williamson continues to work with a variety of healthcare disciplines in integrating the best evidence to influence health policy, patient outcomes and disseminating evidence to advance the practice across all healthcare settings. Dr. Williamson is a manuscript reviewer for peer-reviewed journals and continues to secure grant funding related to research interests in EBP, integrating technology, and assessment of and for learning. She is a member of the Editorial Board and Column Editor for Tactics for Teaching Evidence-based Practice in Worldviews on Evidence-Based Practice Journal.

Dr. Williamson received her BSN and MSN from Wilmington University in New Castle, DE, and her Ph.D. in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware.

Daniel Wilson is a statistical associate at Mountain Measurement and has managed the production of the NCLEX^® Program Reports since 2008. Daniel’s areas of expertise include systems science, psychometrics, statistics, database design and administration, data visualization, and reporting. Daniel earned a certificate as a Credentialing Specialist and is the Chair for the Institute for Credentialing R & D Committee’s Task Force on Small Program Issues.

For a complete Bio including a list of publications and presentations, see Daniel Wilson - Bio